Make Sure Not to Be Born in Michigan when Poor and Black

(Guest Post by Matthew Ladner)

If you want to learn how to read anyway, you need to stay away from Michigan, that is to say Detroit, if you are concerned about being born a poor Black child in the next life. The 2011 NAEP says to stay away from Iowa, Maine and DC for good measure.

On the other end of the scale: MA, NJ, DE, MD and FL are looking relatively good. Low-income Black children in Massachusetts reads a mere 2.5 grade levels ahead of their peers in Michigan on a 4th grade test.

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4 Responses to Make Sure Not to Be Born in Michigan when Poor and Black

The good news: My state of Alaska was still slightly above the US average in 4th grade math (4 points).

The bad news: Alaska fell backward to a tie with New Mexico for 50th place in 4th Grade reading with, 12 points below the national average. Alaska has the second lowest poverty rate in the US and our 4th graders were out-performed by free and reduced lunch 4th graders in 20 states.

Nice gains in DC. Alaska was 7 points ahead of the District of Columbia in 2011 4th grade reading. As recently as 2003, Alaska was 24 points ahead of DC.

The bad news, when I sent a letter to my state senator here in Michigan urging him to vote for the bill that’d take the cap off charters he responded the information that his mail is running 5-to-1 against the bill. I know enough about the politics of public education to know where those five letters are coming from so I wonder whether a graphic like the one in this posting would impress him my senator about continuing to support the status quo.

[…] — a state that has lagged behind in reform over the past three decades, isn’t exactly a great place for young black students to grow up. In short, we must end zip code education, both in communities and throughout […]